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Went into the box today and found that my HPS was off! I checked everything and then double checked but I can't think of what it was. The ballast was plugged into a heavy duty powerbox so I know it wasn't a power surge, but mum fucked around with the fuse box today and the power was temporarily turned off, before being turned back on about 2hours later, could this have fucked the light?

I'm worried the few hours my plants spent in darkness with flip them to flowering, could this happen? I made sure as soon as I found them in darkness I put them outside so they were in light while I made a temp fix.

As soon as I found the HPS was off I ran into the house and jerry rigged 160W of CFL's onto a piece of wood in a 2x3 layout, its a very temp job but it should be fine till I figure out this HPS thing. Photos of my shituation soon.

The power being cut off then going back on shouldn't have fucked with your light. Timers pretty much work the same way. They just cut off power to the ballast then resupply it hours later. Some ballasts have one of those resettable fuses on them check for one of those.

Now that I think about it plug something into the socket the ballast was in and check for power there. (if the cfl's aren't already in it)

Without seeing it that is about all I can come up with other then the obvious like checking fuses or circuit breakers. (which you said you already checked)

Check the bulb, if you have another bulb put that in and check the ballasts that way.

--------------------All creatures tremble when faced with violence. All creatures fear death, all love life. If we can only see ourselves in others, then how could we possibly hurt another creature?

Thanks for the reply! The powerboard the Ballast was plugged into had the fan and another small light plugged into it and all those were working fine. How would I check the bulb? I don't have another ballast or another bulb which sucks but is there a way to test the bulb without having another?

In my (in)experience, I think you should be fine vegging for a bit with those. You might wanna move them closer however. And maybe try to put the board horizontally if possible, because IIRC CFLs are more efficient horizontally.

Thanks for the advice man, I'm gonna try to build something a bit better tomorrow but I didn't know that about the CFL's so thanks!

I'm so fucking sick of all the hassle I've gone through to get this grow up and running, and now that everything was getting good my light craps out I can't afford another for a few weeks so this is going to have to do if I can't get it working or exchanged

Well if you have a grow shop near you they will usually let you check out your ballast and your bulb. Just bring both in and kind of sound like your gonna buy as soon as you find out which is out. Then come in and buy it when you have the money. Most shops can also do repairs and if you go in wanting to check it out they may just fix the problem while your there. You end up buying a capacitor or some cheap part instead of a bulb or worse a ballast.

--------------------All creatures tremble when faced with violence. All creatures fear death, all love life. If we can only see ourselves in others, then how could we possibly hurt another creature?

some ballasts and/or bulbs do need time to cool down fully before re-igniting. my HTG 400 HPS will just sit there and buzz if it hasn't cooled down long enough... but my odd brand old ass 400 hps doesn't need nearly as much time. If you only have a HPS bulb too you could leave those CFL's in there some how and it'll definitely even out the spectrum a bit (more light is more light).